Wracked with angst over the fate of our beloved and horribly misgoverned Republic, the DiploMad returns to do battle on the world wide web, swearing death to political correctness, and pulling no punches.

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We live in a time of government by con men, women, and those of flexible and reassignable gender. In the last few days this bitter truth ha...

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

The VEEP Debate

Environmental report first: I watched the VP debate right after taking delivery on my new Winchester gun safe. Very nice. Delivered and set-up by a very professional and friendly crew. I was, therefore, in a good mood when I sat down with the dog beasts to watch the debate between Trump's running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, and Clinton's running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Upon the conclusion of the debate, I immediately shut off the TV and took the dog beasts for a quick walk in the cool evening. I did not and have not yet listened to the pundits evaluation of the debate, so my evaluation might be way off in left field. I just didn't want the chatterers to influence me.

Quick and dirty.

Winner?

In the debate between Trump and Clinton, I gave that one on points to Hillary, this despite my clear intention to vote for Trump. This debate, however, I give overwhelmingly to Gov. Pence. He far exceeded my expectations; he showed himself a polished, natural speaker, and debater with a quick wit and no irksome mannerisms. He also showed a strong grasp of policy issues, and took the attack to Hillary quite effectively on her failed foreign policy record, her use of the Clinton Foundation, and her use of a private email server for official and classified materials. He nailed Clinton on the "Russian reset," on Iran, and on the disasters unfolding in Syria and Iraq. Pence did a credible job of defending some of Trump's more ill-advised statements and in dealing with the tax issue. He did not allow Kaine's repeated efforts to interrupt and speak over him to throw him off message. I was quite taken by the skill and courage he used in explaining and defending his position on abortion, especially on partial-birth abortion. A very impressive performance. Trump made a good choice.

I found Sen. Kaine, quite simply, annoying for most of the evening. He had several highly rehearsed lines that he insisted on using whenever possible; he wanted the whole debate to be about Trump's tax returns. His attempts to interrupt Pence and to shout down Pence's statements did not go over well with me and I doubt with any but the most die-hard Clinton supporters. His repeated pronouncements that Hillary Clinton had stopped the Iranian nuclear program and that the Israelis were quite pleased, were, of course, nonsense, and Pence repeatedly called him on it. Kaine seemed overly rehearsed and programmed, not natural at all. For me the only effective moment Kaine had was in response to the question of how his own faith has shaped his actions as a public servant. He did a nice job in explaining how despite his personal faith-based opposition to the death penalty, he realized that when he was Governor of Virginia his state was a death penalty state, and he was sworn to uphold the law. It was good.

The moderator? Elaine Quijano of CBS News did a very credible job. Her questions were good, with no "gotcha" attempts, and she tried to prevent Kaine from making a rude ass of himself, although not always with success. I thought the questions were balanced and fair. At times she seemed a bit intimidated by the debaters and let them keep talking too long, but overall she did a good job--much better than Lester Holt at the Trump-Clinton debate.

There has been so much noise about Trump's taxes that I believe there might be an interesting twist for an 'October Surprise'. About a week before the election, the IRS will 'suddenly' finish the audit, thus pressuring the release of his taxes. Whether or not there is anything of substance there, the noise factor and spins will cancel outvanynother of his messages.

First, as with the first respondent, thanks for doing the dirty duty and watching so I didn't have to.

The choice of a VP is important, but only to the extent that the Presidential Candidate hasn't thoroughly mucked it up (see Eagleton as such a case). But even in that context, and given Kaine's responses and history, do we really want a SJW next in line? Or in line at all?

Well, given Hillary CLinton's history of bad decisions, I suppose one more shouldn't matter.

I am afraid that I do not share your assessment of Elaine Quijano She interrupted Pence and talked over him multiple times - maybe ONCE for Kaine.As for the genderless Kaine --- he may have mollified the feminazis and TGBLblahblah --- but he turned off the left-handed people. How dare he denigrate the sinstral amongst us.

CONCUR Anon! She tried very hard to disguise her role as a Democrat Network shill, but at critical moments she dropped the mask in her haste to rubber stamp Caine's inane commentary!

Pence, to his credit, body-checked the double-team, and created a comfortable illusion of (f)airplay.

Other than the sinister senorita, I agree with Dip's analysis. Also thought Pence's performance was mostly non-threatening, and he even disarmed the "nuclear button" fear mongers! Yes! He did do, what he needed to do, and deflected most of the slings and arrows aimed at Trump.

What he may also have accomplished, by assuming a somewhat timid posture, was to 'set dress the political stage' AND establish the dual natured, and very different roles, that the ticket will need to employ going forward. Say, as the 'Bad Cop-Good Cop' dyad?

Perhaps then, during the next presidential debate, Trump will smile at, and maul the b!tch, so hard, it'll make her go cross-eyed and beg for an on stage fix by her handlers and medicos?On Watch"Let's Roll"

On Quijano. I rewatched much of the debate this morning, and have to agree that I was too generous in my initial evaluation. I failed to notice how she would step on Pence's lines. Pence had a nearly perfect performance with one error: he would often save his devastating punchline for the end of his intervention. That risks having the other guy interrupt you before you get there, or the moderator begin to shout about your time is up. That happened. The Diplomad bows to public consensus and downgrades Quijano.

Agree with Anon (1) and (2) above: Elaine Quijano was a talentless hack who interrupted Pence multiple times to give Kaine the floor.

She obviously followed the script she was given, as she paid no attention to what points were being made by the two men "debating" but instead often mindlessly said, "Now let's talk about..." and switched the subject. Most of her questions were straight out of Democrat talking points.

IMHO she was another affirmative action hire, solidly pimping for the Democrat side no matter what happened; she had no control whatsoever over the contestants. When this show had been on for about an hour, I turned it off. Too hard to figure out if anyone was making any valid points, as all 3 were speaking at once and the only one paying any attention to what was said was Pence; so I give him the victory, but it was more like he was the only adult in the kindergarden.

Hillary Clinton has, amazingly, found a running-mate who is even more gag-worthy than she is. Kaine's incessant interruptions would have tested the patience of the angels, and I wanted to put my fist through his smarmy face almost immediately. That feeling didn't go away, but worsened, until I couldn't take any more and turned that mess off.

The VPs are more important than usual. Hillary is ill and may not be able to hide it for long. Trump is healthy but risks an attack by the GOPe and the Dims if he does anything impeachable. Obama has been immune for obvious reasons. Hillary would be but might not survive a term. I think she is willing to die if she can just get elected and fulfill her ambition. Hubert Humphrey declined curative treatment of his bladder cancer to run for president. He died of it although he did live ten more years.

Mike Pence hosted a radio talk show in the 90's in Indiana. Pence called himself "Rush Limbaugh on decaf" since he considered himself politically conservative while not as outspoken as Limbaugh. That might well have prepared him for his professional approach to the debate and his ability to stay on point and present a cogent argument.

I was hoping that Pence would bring up the $6 billion of our money "lost" by the State Department vs Trumps $916 million of his own, but he didn't. Trump is talking about Soros' and Buffet's greater losses as an example of what can happen when you take business risks. He needs to mention that $6 billion loss by State.

Rush worried today that Trump's 1995 tax return with the loss carry forward will hurt him at the polls. What if Trump asks his accountants to come up with the numbers for his last forty years in business--sales tax, property tax, state tax, federal income tax, taxes to foreign governments--and a grand total. That would give a nice round memorable number as an answer to these foolish accusations about his taxes, but would not lead to the feeding frenzy and distortions that would result from the release of his actual returns.

About Me

W. Lewis Amselem, long time US Foreign Service Officer; now retired; served all over the world and under all sorts of conditions. Convinced the State Department needs to be drastically slashed and reformed so that it will no longer pose a threat to the national interests of the United States.